2015 Burlington mayoral election

The 2015 Burlington mayoral election was held March 3, 2015. Incumbent mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, was re-elected for a second 3-year term with 68.27% of the vote. The Progressive nominee, Steven Goodkind, came in a second distant place with 22.35% of the vote. Weinberger was also challenged by independent Greg Guma and Libertarian Loyal Ploof.

Background
Miro Weinberg was elected mayor of Burlington in 2012, becoming the first Democrat to do so since 1981, when independent Bernie Sanders became mayor. Weinberg's first term was mainly focused on the need to balance the city's finances after Progressive Bob Kiss' mayorship. He reached a settlement with Citibank, that was suing the city for over $33 million over the mismanagement of Burlington Telecom, and in 2014 the city was in the black for the first time since 2009. However his plans to change zoning regulations in order revitalise Burlington's downtown faced criticism from progressives. They feared it would lead to gentrification as residents and business-owners could be priced-out. Weinberg eliminated the requirement for developments downtown to be half commercial and proposed to eliminate parking minimums, a decision ultimately rejected by city council.

Campaign
The campaign was mainly focused on the mayor's plan to change various zoning and housing regulations in order to revitalise Burlington's downtown. Both Steven Goodkind (Progressive) and Greg Guma (Independent) warned that such policies could lead to gentrification and were worried that no enough was being done to guarantee affordable housing.

For his part, Weinberger criticised Goodkind's record as the former public works director and claimed that his views "represent a return to the failed leadership of the past". He defended his plans for downtown claiming that he has the will of the people behind him and that his past profession as a developer makes him best suited to "defend and promote the interest of Burlingtonians when we are working with other sophisticated financial parties."